Real time radiation treament planning system

ABSTRACT

A real time radiation treatment planning system for use in effecting radiation therapy of a pre-selected anatomical portion of an animal body. A processor is provided with a three-dimensional imaging algorithm and a three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm for at least the specific organs within the anatomical portion and the needles. The processor converts the image data into a three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion using at least one single or multi-objective anatomy based genetic optimization algorithm. The processor determines in real time the optimal number and position of the hollow needles, the position of the energy emitting source within each hollow needle and the dwell times of the energy emitting source at each position. For post planning purposes, the processor determines, based on three-dimensional image information in real time, the real needle positions and the dwell times of the energy emitting source for each position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a real time radiation treatment planning system for use in effecting radiation therapy of a pre-selected anatomical portion of an animal body, comprising:

A a stepper for automatically positioning imaging means for generating image data corresponding to the anatomical portion;

B means for inserting under the guidance of a template at least one hollow needle at a position into said anatomical portion;

C radiation delivery means for defining a plurality of positions having a spatial relationship within a volume of said anatomical portion and for inserting at least one energy emitting source through said at least one hollow needle at said plurality of positions into said anatomical portion; D processing means for generating a radiation treatment plan for effecting said radiation therapy, said treatment plan including information concerning:

the number, position, direction and estimation of the best way of placement of one or more of said hollow needles within the anatomical portion and volume of said anatomical portion to be treated;

the amount of radiation dose to be emitted.

2. Discussion of the Background

The last decade has seen major changes in the way radiation treatments are delivered. The century-old objective of radiation therapy, i.e. to deliver a curative dose to the target, e.g. a tumour, while preserving normal tissues of the animal body can now be aimed at with a high degree of sophistication. However, despite of major improvements achieved with three-dimensional imaging techniques, that allow the anatomy to be properly defined, brachytherapy treatments have not yet fully benefited from these important new pieces of information.

For brachytherapy using high dose rate (HDR) energy emitting sources, catheters or hollow needles are placed in a target volume within an animal body and it is assumed that if the dose distribution covers the catheters, it should also cover the anatomy. Imaging is commonly used to set the treatment margins, but optimized dose distributions are based on considerations, such as the catheter positions and desired dose and limited to a few defined points. This necessarily results in an approximation of the shape of the anatomical portion to be treated.

For the case of treatments of the prostate, volume optimization results in a dose distribution that is essentially cylindrically shaped. With a cylindrically shaped approximation of the prostate it is possible to assure the complete coverage of the prostate volume with the radiation emitted by the source or sources. Only a conformal dose distribution delivered to the anatomical portion with an adequate margin around the prostate will encompass all affected, cancerous tissue.

The methods described in the prior art (e.g. Etienne Lessard, Med. Phys. 28. (5), May 2001) are using the concept of inverse planning to obtain an anatomy-based optimization of the dose distribution. Without any manual modification to deliver conformal HDR prostate treatment and knowing the exact location of the applicators (catheters/hollow needles), due to modern imaging techniques, it is easy to determine the possible stopping position of the radioactive source within a catheter or hollow needle present in the animal body. The possible source positions are considered given. The system has to determine based on a HDR inverse planning dose optimization governed entirely from anatomy and clinical criteria to decide the best dwell time distribution.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,139 in the name of G. K. Edmundson a real time radiation treatment planning system according to the preamble is disclosed. With this system image data of the anatomical portion, e.g. the prostate is obtained for planning purposes and the medical personnel chooses an arbitrary number of needle locations using predetermined placement rules, which have been empirically determined from experience. The planning system develops a treatment plan based on these arbitrary needle positions after which the medical personnel has to examine the planning results and decide whether these results are suitable for the performing the actual radiation treatment. In case the medical personnel finds the planning results unsatisfactorily the virtual needle positions have to be altered and using the repositioned needles a new treatment plan is generated. This trial-and-error approach is repeated until a treatment plan is developed that satisfies the actual intended radiation treatment.

Subsequently the catheters or needles are inserted via a template into the animal body according to the generated treatment plan.

Conventional dose optimization algorithms are single objective, i.e. they provide a single solution. This solution is found by a trial-and-error search method as in Edmundson's U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,139, by modifying importance factors of a weighted sum of objectives, e.g. by repositioning the virtual needles or by changing the radiation dose to be delivered. This problem has been addressed currently and some methods have been proposed to find an optimal set of importance factors.

Conventional optimization methods combine the target objectives and the objectives for the surrounding healthy tissue and of critical structures into a single weighted objective function. The weight or importance factor for each objective must be supplied. The obtained solution depends on the value of importance factors used. One goal of a treatment planning system is the ability to assist the clinician in obtaining good plans on the fly. Also it should provide all the information of the possibilities given the objectives of the treatment. In order to explore the feasible region of the solution space with respect to each objective, different values for the importance factors in the aggregate objective function must be given.

Furthermore, the appropriate values of these importance factors differ from clinical case to clinical case. This implies that for any new clinical case a lot of effort is necessary for their determination.

While current optimization methods are single weighted objective methods the dose optimization problem is a true multi-objective problem and therefore multi-objective optimization methods should be used.

The gradient-based algorithm due to its efficiency allows the construction of the so-called Pareto or trade-off surface which contains all the information of the competition between the objectives which is necessary for the planner to select the solution which best fulfills his requirements.

One problem of this algorithm is that the weighted sum as used in all conventional dose optimization algorithms cannot provide solutions in possible non-convex parts of the Pareto tradeoff surface, because a convex weighted sum of objectives converges only to the convex parts of the Pareto front. Another major limitation of the algorithm is its restriction to convex objective functions for which gradients can be calculated. In this case according to the Kuhn-Tucker theorems a global optimum can be obtained and the entire Pareto front is accessible from the weighted sum.

When searching for an optimal set of importance factors dividing each importance factors in n points, then the number of combinations for k objectives is approximately proportional to n^(k-1) and the shape of the entire trade-off surface require a very large computational time. Most realistic problems require the simultaneous optimization of many objectives. It is unlikely that all objectives are optimal for a single set of parameters. If this is so, then there exist many, in principle infinite solutions.

A multi-objective algorithm does not provide a single solution, but a representative set of all possible solutions. Out of these representative solutions a single final solution has to be selected. It is a complex problem to automatically select such a solution and such methods have been proposed but then a planner would not know what alternatives solutions could instead be selected. In problems where different sets of objectives have to be compared this information is valuable, since it shows the possibilities a planner has for each such set.

A time analysis of the optimization with available commercial systems based on e.g. 35 clinical cases shows that even if a single optimization run requires only a few seconds the actual optimization requires 5.7±4.8 minutes. The evaluation of the results requires additional 5.8±2.5 minutes. This shows that the result of a single optimization run is not always satisfactorily and most of the time is spent in a manual trial-and-error optimization.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims to obviate the above described problems and proposes a new real time radiation treatment planning system according to the above preamble, where the possible positions of the energy emitting sources are not considered given and the location of the needles are not predetermined based on rules, which have been empirically determined.

It is also an object of the present invention to describe a new real time radiation treatment planning system and method, which will allow a significant speed-up of single and multi-objective anatomy based dose optimization and inverse planning procedures for HDR interstitial brachytherapy.

More in particular the invention aims to generate in real time a treatment plan, which will be presented to the medical personnel instantly and can also immediately used as the radiation treatment.

According to the invention said processing means are provided with a three-dimensional imaging algorithm and a three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm for at least the specific organs within said anatomical portion and the needles for converting the image data obtained with said imaging means into a three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion, whereby by using at least one single or multi-objective anatomy based genetic optimization algorithm for pre-planning or virtual simulation purposes said processing means are arranged to determine in real time the optimal number and position of at least one of said hollow needles, the position of said energy emitting source within each hollow needle as well as the dwell times of said energy emitting source at each position; whereas for post planning purposes said processing means are arranged to determine based on three-dimensional image information in real time the real needle positions and the dwell times of said energy emitting source for each position.

The term needles in this application also covers e.g. catheters, guide tubes or other elements to be implanted in an animal body for positioning an energy emitting source inside that animal body. The three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm used in the treatment planning system according to the invention may use all or part of these elements (hollow needles, catheters, and guide tubes, e.g.).

The use of a three-dimensional imaging algorithm and a three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm allows a real time and fast generation of a treatment plan without the necessity of determining certain objectives as a starting point for the treatment planning step, such as the positioning of one or more needle inside the anatomical portion.

In fact with the treatment planning system according to the invention for generating a treatment plan said anatomy based genetic optimization algorithm uses specific animal body related data and/or system related data and/or radiation related data, wherein said animal body related data are data concerning the shape and localization of said anatomical portion and/or the shape and localization of specific organs near or within said anatomical portion.

Said system related data may be data concerning the template and its position in relation to said anatomical portion of said animal body and/or the dimensions of the needles used and/or the minimum displacement distance of said energy emitting source through said radiation delivery means, whereas said radiation related data are data concerning the prescribed radiation dose to said anatomical portion of said animal body, the maximum radiation exposure dose to said specific organs near or within said anatomical portion.

These specific data are used as boundary conditions and entered into the anatomy based genetic optimization algorithm by the medical personnel or determined/established by said algorithm from e.g. said image data obtained with the imaging means.

Dose optimization has to consider many objectives in conflict, such as the coverage of the pre-selected anatomical portion or planning target volume (PTV) to be treated with a specified dose and the dose protection of the surrounding tissue and specific delicate organs (OAR=organs at risk), such as the bladder and urethra, when treating prostate cancer. The objectives are combined into a single objective function f_(Tot) formed by a weighted sum of the individual objective functions. The optimal value f*_(i) for the i^(th) objective found by a optimization algorithm depends on the weights (importance factors) used and may not be the best possible result as the mapping from importance to objective space is complex, especially for three and more objectives. In cases where the solution is not satisfactory the treatment planner is required to repeat the optimization with a different set of importance factors. One method is to increase the importance factors of the objectives for which the solution does not provide a satisfactory result.

Practical only a very small number of combinations can be tested and with this approach the treatment planner cannot gain all the information about the range of possible values and the degree of competition, which are required to select the “best solution”. In order to get the “best” possible result avoiding trial-and-error methods the invention proposes and uses a gradient based multi-objective optimization algorithm.

The importance of this has been recognized by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,490, where a method is presented to save and compare different treatment plans. What is not recognized in this patent is that not only a modification of the energy emitting source positions is sometimes necessary, but also a modification of the importance factors/boundary conditions, which determine the quality of the solution. In clinical practice the reality is often that the optimization required is multi-objective rather than single-objective and this increases even further the time required for the calculation process. Consequently there is a real need in anatomy based optimization techniques and inverse planning procedures for very fast dose calculation methods.

The dose d_(i)(x) at the i^(th) sampling point is calculated by:

${d_{i}(x)} = {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{j}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{ij}}}$

where N_(d) is the number of sources, x_(j) ² is the dwell time of the j^(th) source dwell position and {tilde over (d)}_(ij) the kernel value for the i^(th) dose calculation point and j^(th) source dwell position. Dose calculation look-up tables (LUT) of {tilde over (d)}_(ij) are calculated and stored in a preprocessing step. The calculation of the dose for N_(S) sampling points requires N_(S)N_(d) multiplications and N_(S)(N_(d)−1) additions.

A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based convolution technique for the calculation of a three-dimensional dose distribution has been proposed by Boyer and Mok in 1986, which tries to reduce the calculation time. Employing FFT based convolution methods the time needed for the calculation of a dose distribution with this method is independent of the number of sources. While unable to cope with angular asymmetric kernels, an advantage of the FFT based method is that the computational time is practically independent of the form of the dosimetric kernel used. Our analysis has shown that this method is comparable with conventional methods only if the number of sources is much larger than 300. The avoidance of wrap around effects can only be avoided with zero padding in each dimension which increases the transform size to N=8·N_(S) for N_(S) sampling points and requires 8·N_(S)·ln(8·N_(S)) operations.

The aim of HDR brachytherapy dose optimization according to the invention is to cover the anatomical portion (PTV) to be treated with at least some dose value, and to protect the specific delicate organs (OAR) and the surrounding normal tissue with dose values above some specific level. For variance based objective functions dose values above a critical dose value are penalized quadratic. The objectives are such that the isodose of the optimal dose distribution of the prescription dose coincides with the surface of the anatomical portion. With this approach, the use of an additional objective for the surrounding normal tissue is not necessary. For this the dose variance f_(s) of the sampling points (dose points) as uniformly distributed on the surface of the anatomical portion should be as small as possible. The avoidance of excessive high dose values inside the anatomical portion, e.g. the prostate is controlled by the dose distribution variance f_(v) inside the anatomical portion.

${f_{S} = {\frac{1}{N_{S}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}\frac{\left( {d_{i}^{S} - m_{S}} \right)^{2}}{m_{S}^{2}}}}},{f_{V} = {\frac{1}{N_{V}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{V}}\frac{\left( {d_{i}^{V} - m_{V}} \right)^{2}}{m_{V}^{2}}}}}$

where m_(s) and m_(v) are the average dose values on the surface of the anatomical portion and within the anatomical portion respectively, and N_(s), N_(v) the corresponding numbers of sampling points. The objective space of (f_(s), f_(v)) is convex and gradient-based algorithms converge to the global Pareto front. If specific, delicate organs are to be considered then an additional objective is included for each specific organ (OAR):

${f_{OAR} = {\frac{1}{N_{OAR}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{OAR}}\frac{{\Theta\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)}\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)^{2}}{\left( {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}} \right)^{2}}}}},{{\Theta(x)} = \left\{ \begin{matrix} 1 & {x \geq 0} \\ 0 & {x < 0} \end{matrix} \right.}$

where N_(OAR) is the number of sampling points in the specific organ and D_(c) ^(OAR) is the corresponding critical dose as a fraction of the prescription dose or reference dose, which dose equals in this model the average dose on the surface of the anatomical portion. The objective functions for the specific delicate organs are of the same form as for the anatomical organs, but involve the dose variances versus the critical dose values, which are specific only to those particular specific organs. The derivatives are:

$\frac{\partial f_{S}}{\partial x_{k}} = {\frac{4x_{k}}{N_{S}m_{S}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{d_{i}^{S}\left( {{m_{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{ik}^{S}} - {d_{i}^{S}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S}}} \right)}}}$ $\frac{\partial f_{V}}{\partial x_{k}} = {\frac{4x_{k}}{N_{V}m_{V}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{V}}{d_{i}^{V}\left( {{m_{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{ik}^{V}} - {d_{i}^{V}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{V}}} \right)}}}$ $\frac{\partial f_{OAR}}{\partial x_{k}} = {\frac{4x_{k}}{{N_{OAR}\left( D_{c}^{OAR} \right)}^{2}m_{S}^{3}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{OAR}}{{\Theta\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)}\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)\left( {{m_{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{ik}^{OAR}} - {d_{i}^{OAR}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S}}} \right)}}}$

Where the following relations are used:

${d_{i}^{S} = {\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{il}^{S}}}},{m_{s} = {\frac{1}{N_{S}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{s}}d_{l}^{S}}}},{{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S} = {\frac{1}{N_{S}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{s}}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{l}^{S}}}},{k = 1},\ldots\mspace{14mu},N_{d}$ ${d_{i}^{V} = {\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{il}^{V}}}},{m_{v} = {\frac{1}{N_{V}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{v}}d_{l}^{V}}}},{{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{V} = {\frac{1}{N_{V}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{v}}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{l}^{V}}}},{k = 1},\ldots\mspace{14mu},N_{d}$ $d_{i}^{OAR} = {\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{il}^{OAR}}}$

where d_(i) ^(s), d_(i) ^(v) and d_(i) ^(OAR) is the dose rate at the i^(th) sampling point on the surface of the anatomical portion, within the anatomical portion and within a specific organ respectively.

${\overset{\sim}{d}}_{il}^{S},{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{il}^{V},{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{il}^{OAR}$ is the dose kernel for the i^(th) sampling point and the l^(th) source dwell position for the sampling points on the surface of the anatomical portion, within the anatomical portion and in the specific organ respectively. N_(d) is the number of source dwell positions.

For a conventional method to calculate objective values and derivatives the lookup table {tilde over (d)}_(iα) ^(S) as a N_(S)×N_(d) matrix {tilde over (K)}^(S) are considered:

${\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S} = \begin{pmatrix} {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} & {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} & \ldots & {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} \\ {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} & {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} & \ldots & {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} & {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} & \ldots & {\overset{\sim}{d}}_{11}^{S} \end{pmatrix}$

If {right arrow over (d)}^(S) ^(T) =(d^(S) ₁, d^(S) ₂, . . . , d^(S) _(Ns)) is the vector of dose values d_(i) ^(s) and {right arrow over (t)}^(T)=(t₁, t₂, . . . , t_(Nd))=

(x₁², x₂², …  , x_(Nd)²) the vector of the dwell times, then {right arrow over (d)}^(S)={tilde over (K)}^(S){right arrow over (t)}.

The conventional approach is to calculate the dose values and then the objective values and their derivatives. The number of operations to calculate {right arrow over (d)}^(S) requires N_(d)·N_(s) multiplications and (N_(d)−1)·N_(s) additions. The storage required for {tilde over (K)}^(S) is N_(d)·N_(s) floating points. The storage of this pre-computed matrix is desired because of the significant gain in the optimization speed. The calculation of the objective functions and the derivatives for N_(s) sampling points and N_(d) source dwell positions requires therefore an order of N_(d)·N_(s) operations.

The New Method of the Calculation of the Objectives and Derivatives Using Dose Kernel Look-Up Tables

The objective function f_(S) and its N_(d) derivatives can be written also as:

${f_{S} = {\left\lbrack {\frac{1}{N_{S}m_{S}^{2}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}\left( d_{i}^{S} \right)^{2}}} \right\rbrack - 1}},{\frac{\partial f_{S}}{\partial x_{k}} = {{{\frac{4x_{k}}{N_{S}m_{S}^{2}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{d_{i}^{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{ik}^{S}}}} + {\frac{4x_{k}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S}}{N_{S}m_{S}^{3}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{\left( d_{i}^{S} \right)^{2}k}}}} = 1}},2,\ldots\mspace{14mu},N_{d}$

It is possible to reduce the number of operations of the objective value and its derivatives to approximately O(N_(d)·N_(d)) operations.

${{With}\mspace{14mu}{\overset{\rightarrow}{d}}^{S^{T}}} = {{{\overset{\rightarrow}{t}}^{T}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S^{T}}\mspace{14mu}{we}\mspace{14mu}{have}\mspace{14mu}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{NS}\left( d_{i}^{S} \right)^{2}}} = {{{\overset{\rightarrow}{d}}^{S^{T}} \cdot {\overset{\rightarrow}{d}}^{S}} = {{{\overset{\rightarrow}{t}}^{T}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S^{T}}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S}\overset{\rightarrow}{t}} = {{\overset{\rightarrow}{t}}^{T}D^{S}{\overset{\rightarrow}{t} \cdot D^{s}}}}}}$ is a symmetric

(D_(α β)^(S) = D_(βα )^(S)) N_(d)×N_(d) matrix. We call {tilde over (K)}^(S) the first order and D^(s) the second order dose kernel matrix.

The terms m_(s), m_(s) ² and

$\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}\;{d_{i}^{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\;\beta}^{S}}$ can be calculated from {tilde over (K)}^(S) using the relations:

$\begin{matrix} \begin{matrix} {{m_{S} = {{\overset{\rightarrow}{s}}^{S^{T}}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S}\overset{\rightarrow}{t}}}\;,} \\ {{m_{S}^{2} = {{{\overset{\rightarrow}{t}\;}^{T}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S^{T}}{\overset{\rightarrow}{s}}^{S}{\overset{\rightarrow}{s}}^{S^{T}}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S}\overset{\rightarrow}{t}} = {{\overset{\rightarrow}{t}\;}^{T}{\overset{\overset{\rightarrow}{\sim}}{m}}^{S}{\overset{\overset{\rightarrow}{\sim}}{m}}^{S^{T}}\overset{\rightarrow}{t}}}}\;,} \end{matrix} \\ {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}\;{d_{i}^{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\;\beta}^{S}}} = \left( {{\overset{\rightarrow}{s}}^{S^{T}}{\overset{\sim}{K}}^{S}} \right)_{\beta}} \end{matrix}$ where

${\overset{\rightarrow}{s}}^{S^{T}} = \frac{1}{N_{S}}$ (1, 1, 1, . . . , 1) is a N_(s) dimensional vector and {tilde over ({right arrow over (m)}^(S) ^(T) ={right arrow over (s)}^(S) ^(T) {tilde over (K)}^(S).

From the matrix representation the following terms can be written analytically as:

$\begin{matrix} {{g_{\alpha} \equiv {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{d_{i}^{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\;\alpha}^{S}}}} = {\sum\limits_{\beta = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{\beta}^{2}D_{\alpha\;\beta}^{S}}}} & (1) \end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix} {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}\left( d_{i}^{S} \right)^{2}} = {{\sum\limits_{\alpha = 1}^{N_{d}}{\sum\limits_{\beta = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{\alpha}^{2}x_{\beta}^{2}D_{\alpha\;\beta}^{S}}}} = {{\sum\limits_{\alpha = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{\alpha}^{2}{\sum\limits_{\beta = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{\beta}^{2}D_{\alpha\;\beta}^{S}}}}} = {\sum\limits_{\alpha = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{\alpha}^{2}g_{\alpha}}}}}} & (2) \end{matrix}$

$\begin{matrix} {m_{S} = {\sum\limits_{\alpha = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{\alpha}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{\alpha}^{S}}}} & (3) \end{matrix}$

where

$D_{\alpha\;\beta}^{S} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\;\alpha}^{S}{{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\;\beta}^{S}.}}}$ For the objective f_(v) the corresponding matrices {tilde over (K)}^(V) and D^(v) are required. D^(s) and D^(v) can be calculated once in a preprocessing step which requires only 1-2 seconds.

The equations (1)-(3) show us that it is possible to increase the number of sampling points in the anatomical portion without increasing the optimization time as the right side of each equation does not directly depend on the number of sampling points. This means that we can increase accuracy without increasing the computation costs.

With the new approach the number of operations is independent on the number of sampling points. It is not necessary to store the matrix {tilde over (K)}^(S) and {tilde over (K)}^(V). Only the matrices D^(s), D^(v) and the N_(d) dimensional vectors {tilde over (K)}^(S) ^(T) {right arrow over (s)}^(S) and {tilde over (K)}^(V) ^(T) {right arrow over (s)}^(V) are required for the dose optimization. The matrices {tilde over (K)}^(S) and {tilde over (K)}^(V) require N_(S)·N_(d) and N_(V)·N_(d) numbers to be stored, whereas both symmetric matrices D^(s) and D^(v) require N_(d) (N_(d)+1) numbers to be stored, i.e. the storage is independent on the number of sampling points.

It is of importance to mention that this novel algorithm can be applied in general for objectives (and their derivatives) of the following types commonly used in brachytherapy (HDR and seeds) and external beam radiotherapy:

$\begin{matrix} {f_{1} = {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}\;\left( {d_{i} - D_{i}} \right)^{2}}}} & (4) \\ {f_{2} = {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}d_{i}}}} & (5) \\ {f_{3} = {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}d_{i}^{2}}}} & (6) \end{matrix}$

where D_(i) is the desired dose for the i^(th) sampling point and N the number of sampling points. Objectives of the form f₂ and f₃ are used for the surrounding normal tissue, where the dose has to be minimized. f₂ is a measure of the integral dose, whereas with f₃ high dose values are penalized stronger than with f₂.

For external beam radiotherapy and intensity modulated beam radiotherapy (IMRT) due to the sparse matrix nature of the kernel matrix we have a benefit only if the sampling point density is such that the average number of sampling points per beamlet is larger than the number of beamlets.

Furthermore it is to mention that since the kernel of an inverse planning system is based on the calculation of anatomy related objective functions, it is obvious that the same benefit is expected when this novel method is implemented as described in the Equations 1 to 3 above.

In order to optimize for the specific organ's the objective function and the derivatives are build up only by terms for which

d_(i)^(OAR) > D_(c)^(OAR)m_(S), which is expressed by

Θ(d_(i)^(OAR) − D_(c)^(OAR)m_(S)). A large fraction of the sampling points has dose values that are smaller than D_(c) ^(OAR) m_(S). It is possible to avoid the calculation of a fraction of these dose values using the Cauchy-Schwarz-Bunjakovski inequality:

${\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}\;{a_{i}b_{i}}} \leq {\sqrt{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}\; a_{i}^{2}}\sqrt{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}\; b_{i}^{2}}}$

For the dose d_(i) of the i^(th) sampling point we have

$d_{i} = {{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}\;{x_{i}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}}} \leq {\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}\; x_{l}^{4}}\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}}}$

The quantity

$r = \sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}\; x_{l}^{4}}$ is calculated only once in each iteration while the N_(S) constants

${p_{i} = \sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}},{i = 1},\;\ldots\mspace{14mu},N_{S}$ can be calculated and stored in a pre-processing step. If

r ⋅ p_(i) < D_(c)^(OAR)m_(S) it follows

d_(i) < D_(c)^(OAR)m_(S), otherwise it is necessary to calculate d_(i). Even if the estimation of the dose by the inequality is not very good it is possible to avoid the calculation of the dose values of a large fraction of the sampling points in the specific organs using only one multiplication per point.

A better estimate can be obtained using the relation:

${d_{i} = {{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}}} \leq {{\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{{Nd}\; 1}\; x_{l}^{4}}\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{{Nd}\; 1}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}} + {\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = {{{Nd}\; 1} + 1}}^{Nd}\; x_{l}^{4}}\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = {{{Nd}\; 1} + 1}}^{Nd}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}}} \leq {\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{Nd}\; x_{l}^{4}}\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{Nd}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}}}},$ i=1, . . . , N_(S) where N_(d) is divided into 2 approximately equal terms N₁, N₂, i.e. N_(d)=N₁+N₂.

The two terms

$\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{{Nd}\; 1}\; x_{l}^{4}}$ and

$\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = {{{Nd}\; 1} + 1}}^{Nd}\; x_{l}^{4}}$ can be calculated in each iteration once while the 2N_(S) terms

$\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{Nd1}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}$ and

$\sqrt{\sum\limits_{l = {{Nd1} + 1}}^{Nd}\;{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{2}}$ are calculate once and stored in a pre processing step before the optimization.

This method can be extended to objective functions of the type

${f_{H}(x)} = {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}\;{{\Theta\left( {{d_{i}(x)} - D_{H}} \right)}\left( {{d_{i}(x)} - D_{H}} \right)^{\alpha}}}}$

For a=2 we obtain the quadratic type of objectives, for a=1 the Lessard-Pouliot objectives and for a=0 the DVH based objectives. Using the inequality we can avoid the calculation of the dose of a fraction of the sampling points if r·p_(i)<D_(H). For the rectum, bladder and normal tissue this approach avoids the calculation of a significant fraction of the dose values.

The main idea of the proposed dose optimization speed-up method is that the objective functions presented here and commonly used in brachytherapy and their derivatives can be calculated without the calculation of the individual dose values or a fraction of them. For objectives of the type given by equation (4)-(6) the number of operations for the calculation of the objective function values and their derivatives is independent of the number of sampling points, if we ignore the pre processing time to calculate and store {right arrow over (s)}^(S) ^(T) {tilde over (K)}^(S) and D^(S)={right arrow over (s)}^(S) ^(T) {tilde over (K)}^(S).

This method allows us to increase the number of sampling points in the anatomical portion up to a few thousands, improving thus the accuracy without any loss of optimization speed. In comparison to standard dose optimization the new method is faster the more sampling points we have. The speed-up is also significant for implants with a small number of source dwell positions, where the term N_(d) ² is much smaller than N_(s)·N_(d) required previously for the calculation of the dose values.

A multi-objective optimization with 100 sources using up to 100 solutions and up to 5000 sampling points in the anatomical portion with a 2 GHz PC is possible in less than 10 s. The storage for N_(S) sampling points and N_(d) sources can be reduced by a factor of approximately 2N_(S)/N_(d).

A speed-up is expected not only for deterministic algorithms but also for stochastic algorithms such as genetic algorithms or simulated annealing.

For high dose limits objectives an estimation of the dose value using only two multiplications and one addition per sampling point avoids the necessity of the calculation of the dose value of a fraction of the sampling points.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages therefore will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the present invention for implanting radioactive seeds;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a template used in the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the geometry of a catheter hollow needle used with the present invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are graphs of generated sampling points;

FIGS. 6-9 show screens for setting various parameters in the system of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a screen showing the grid of the template and the catheters;

FIG. 11 shows a selection of buttons for determining catheter density;

FIGS. 12-18 show screens of the present invention showing selective parameters and dosages;

FIG. 19 shows a screen of the present invention with histograms; and

FIGS. 20-23 show screens of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings where in like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts through the several views, and more particularly to FIG. 1 which shows a known device which operates as follows.

A patient 1 is shown lying in lithotomy position on a table 2. Fixedly connected to the table 2 is a housing 3, Housing 3 comprises a drive means 4 to move rod 4 a stepwise. A template 5 is connected or mounted to the table 2, which template is provided (not shown) with a plurality of guiding holes through which holes hollow needles 9, 10 can be positioned relative to the patient. By means of a holder 6 a transrectal imaging probe 7 is fixedly connected to said rod 4 a, which is moveable in a direction towards and from the patient by means of the drive means 4. The imaging probe 7 can be an ultrasound probe

A needle 9 is used for fixing the prostate gland 11 in position relative to the template 5. A number of needles 10 is fixed into position through the template 5 in the prostate gland 11. The template 5 determines the relative positions of the needles 10 in two dimensions. The needles 10 are open at their distal ends and are sealed of by a plug of bio-compatible, preferably bio-absorbable wax. In said housing 3 a seed loading unit 8 is present.

A well-known therapy planning module 12 a is provided for determining the number and relative positions of seeds in each needle for implantation in the prostate gland 11. Such therapy planning module 12 a usually comprises a computer programmed with a therapy planning program. The therapy planning module 12 a is connected to the seed loading unit 8 through a control device 12 for controlling the number of seeds for each needle. Control device 12 may be a separate device or may be an integrated part either of the seed loading unit 8 or of the therapy planning module 12 a or may be embodied in the software of the therapy planning module 12 a or of the seed loading unit 8.

The known device shown in FIG. 1 operates as follows. A patient 1 is under spinal or general anesthesia and lies on the operating table 2 in lithotomy position. The (ultrasound) imaging probe 7 is introduced into the rectum and the probe is connected via signal line 7 a with a well known image screen, where an image may be seen of the inside of the patient in particular of the prostate gland 11 as seen from the point of view of the imaging probe 7. The template 5 is attached to the drive means 4, thereby insuring the correlation of the ultrasound image geometry and the template 5. The prostate gland 11 is fixed relative to the template 5 and the drive means 4 and the imaging probe 7 by means of one or more needles 9, 10. Subsequently further needles 10 are introduced in the body and the prostate gland under ultrasound guidance one by one.

Moving the imaging probe with the drive means 4 longitudinally within the rectum controls the needle depths of each needle 10. After all needles 10 have been placed, their positions relative to the prostate gland 11 are determined in at least one of several known ways. In a known way the therapy planning module 12 a determines how the needles 10 are to be placed in the prostate and how many radioactive seeds are to be placed in what order in each of the needles 10. The information about the desired placement of the radioactive seeds in the needles 10 is used to control the seed loading unit 8.

According to the invention said therapy treatment planning module generates at least one treatment plan as it is provided with a three-dimensional imaging algorithm and a three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm for the specific organs within said anatomical portion, the needles and the tubes for converting the image data obtained with said imaging means into a three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion, whereby by using at least one single or multi-objective anatomy based genetic optimization algorithm for pre-planning or virtual simulation purposes said processing means are arranged to determine in real time the optimal number and position of at least one of said hollow needles, the position of said energy emitting source within each hollow needle as well as the dwell times of said energy emitting source at each position; whereas for post planning purposes said processing means are arranged to determine based on three-dimensional image information in real time the real needle positions and the dwell times of said energy emitting source for each position.

In FIG. 2 a template is disclosed for use in a real time radiation treatment planning system according to the invention. Especially the template 20 is detachable from a template frame 25, which frame is connected with the stepper means for displacing the imaging means as described in connection with FIG. 1.

According to the invention template 20 has a grid configuration with needle holes 22 at an intermediate distance of 3.5 mm seen in diagonal direction. In another embodiment the template has a grid configuration with needle holes at an intermediate distance of 2.5 mm seen in orthogonal direction.

In a specific embodiment the template is a motorized template without holes and the needles are guided with a guiding tube, whereas the guiding tube can be positioned in each position of the virtual template grid. As this embodiment does not use holes, the absence of a grid does not limit the positioning of the needles in relation to the template and the anatomical portion to be treated. In fact with a template without holes the grid configuration is only limited to the diameter of the needles used.

A more specific embodiment of the template is disclosed in FIG. 2, where said template 20 is detachable from the frame 25. Frame 25 is connected with the stepper means as described above. For a good connection and orientation of the frame 25 and template 20 in relation to the device of FIG. 1 the frame 25 is provided with alignment pins 27 which cooperate with corresponding openings (not shown) in the device of FIG. 1.

The template 20 has a saddle shaped body 20 a, which fits with the frame 25 as shown in FIG. 2. For alignment purposes the template 20 is provided with notches 11 a-11 b which cooperate with corresponding holes 26 a-26 b present in the circumference of frame 25.

It is an another object of the invention to describe the catheters or needles inserted in the body through which the HDR source is travelling with their real geometrical dimensions. As a direct result of this it is a next object of the invention that sampling points for dose evaluation, which are lying inside the needles or catheters are excluded. This will contribute to the reduction of the number of sampling points in the anatomical portion compared with other conventional methods and to the increase of the speed.

As shown in FIG. 3 a catheter or hollow needle is defined by catheter describing points. These points are connected with cylinders and at each catheter describing lengths and diameters. The set of catheters cylinders and spheres are used to describe the geometry of a catheter that may be either metallic linear or plastic and curved.

For generating each treatment plan the processing means of the radiation treatment planning system according to the invention are arranged to generate a set of multiple sampling points using said three-dimensional imaging algorithm and said three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm and to calculate the optimal radiation dose distribution for each of said sampling points by using a gradient-based algorithm.

The quality of the results depends on the distribution of the sampling points as generated. According to the invention the dose distribution inside the anatomical portion (PTV), critical structures, such as specific delicate organs (OAR) and the surface of the anatomical portion is estimated from the dose of a small number of points (sampling points).

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 the generated sampling points are distributed on the contours and on the triangulated surface of the anatomical portion to be treated. For the contour based method no points are on both ends of the anatomical portion. Therefore a large part of the surface is undefined for the optimization algorithm and the resulting isodose is bounded only by the contours of the anatomical portion.

Sampling points in the volume are generated from low discrepancy sequences or quasi-random distributed sampling points.

It is a another objective of the invention that in contrast to pseudo-random distributed sampling points voids and clustering are avoided. Monte-Carlo generated quantities convergence much more rapidly than a conventional pseudo-random sequence. Sampling points inside catheters are excluded. This reduces the influence of very large dose values of sampling points that occasionally are produced very close to the source dwell positions. Statistical values obtained from the sampling points are calculated therefore with a higher accuracy.

According to the invention two treatment planning steps are performed:

Pre-planning or inverse planning: Given the geometry of the anatomical portion (PTV) to be treated, the specific organs (OAR) near or within said anatomical portion, a template and its position the optimal number and position of needles, the dwell positions and the dwell times of the energy emitting source are determined, so that the resulting dose distribution satisfies various criteria such as coverage of the anatomical portion with the prescription dose, avoidance of dose values above some critical values in the specific organs, etc. Postplanning: Given the geometry of the anatomical portion (PTV) and the specific organs (OAR) and a given number and position of needles and the position of the energy emitting source in each needle the dwell times of the energy emitting source at each position are determined, so that the resulting dose distribution satisfies various criteria such as coverage of the anatomical portion with the prescription dose, avoidance of dose values above some critical values in the specific organs, etc.

Template Based Inverse Planning

FIG. 6 defines the template and catheter characteristics. The planning software is run on a personal computer or laptop computer and allows the setting of certain objectives/boundaries/parameters prior to the generation of a treatment plan. The displacement step of the source within a needle is set at 5.0 mm in the afterloader parameters, since a 2.5 mm value produces a large number of sources and the optimization using the algorithm according to the invention may take more time and since then 512 MB RAM are recommended. By pressing the button Auto-activation the dialog of FIG. 7 appears, which may contain other organs (or VOIS i.e. Volumes Of Interest)

This dialog is used for the auto-activation algorithm. The anatomical organ (PTV) and the specific organs (OAR) to be protected against too much radiation exposure are listed as well as the minimum distance of the source dwell positions from the corresponding VOI in mm. It is used to select only source dwell positions that are at a distance to a corresponding VOI larger than a specified value.

VOIs for which the corresponding button is pressed only will be considered. In this example the rectum is ignored since it is outside the anatomical portion (PTV).

Now the program moves all catheters/needles, which inside the anatomical portion taking the specific organs and the geometry of the anatomical portion into account. The user has now to take only a subset of these catheters. In principle this will be done automatically by using an optimization methods which are flexible and robust. This will be the true inverse planning.

In FIG. 8 the Source Parameter dialog for setting the prescription dose is disclosed. This dialog is used to define the source strength or activity and the prescription dose. These parameters have to be supplied for the use of the optimization algorithms. The source is characterized by its strength in units of U or as activity in units of GBq or Ci. The prescription dose is specified in cGy.

Subsequently the Inverse planning dialog of FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 Template View and Loading appears. FIG. 10 shows the grid of the template, the catheters and VOIs at various distances from the template. The selected catheters are shown in dark. The catheters which can be selected in light gray. By moving the z-slide a plane parallel is moved along the normal to the template and at some given distance from the template defined by distance z. In the Template View the intersection of the VOIs with that plane is shown in the anatomy window.

By selecting one of the buttons shown in FIG. 11 (and FIG. 10) the catheter density can be selected.

By selecting with the mouse cursor one or more of the catheters or needles (except those which are light gray) the selected catheter can be switched on or off. So the user can select the catheters he wants to use during treatment planning. For example a set of catheters on the periphery and an additional set of catheters inside the anatomical portion can be selected. It is preferred to limit the number of selected catheters or needles to 15-20 in order to limit the number of calculations to be performed.

Subsequently the dialog of FIG. 12 Geometry and sampling appears which contains information about the sampling points, the number of source dwell positions and the number of catheters. Subsequently a optimization modus has to be selected and the dialog of FIG. 13 appears. Here the optimization method can be selected e.g. a deterministic optimization method.

After selecting Set Optimization Options in FIG. 13 the dialog of FIG. 14 appears. The specific organs (OAR=Organs At Risk) which are to be considered during the radiation treatment planning have to be selected. In this case the rectum is located outside the anatomical region to be treated and it can be ignored. However in this example prostate cancer is to be treated and therefore the Urethra button is selected as the urethra is present inside the prostate. The critical dose value to which the specific organ may be exposed to as fraction of the prescription dose. In this case it is decided by the medical personnel that the urethra does not to receive more than 50% of the prescription dose. Therefore the factor 1.50 is entered.

With this dialog a single or multi-objective optimization can be performed. The multi-objective optimization is selected. After the optimization 20 solutions are presented to the user (medic personnel) of the treatment planning system. The treatment planning system Plato developed and commercialized by the present applicant Nucletron B.V. or other systems use a single set of importance factors which is not recommended because there can not be such a single set of importance factors for all cases. There is not a single solution but in principle infinite solutions.

The treatment planning system according to the invention tries to produce a representative set of multiple treatment planning solutions. The deterministic method is the most simple approach. Recommended is of course the evolutionary algorithm which is more flexible and produces much more solutions out of which the best for each case can be found. It is not always possible to have similar results. Even if only prostate cases are considered.

After initialization the treatment planning system of the invention calculates the volumes of the anatomical portion and the specific organs, it generates the sampling points and look-up tables are filled. In this case the optimization algorithm repeats 20 times with 20 different sets of importance factors.

After the optimization step the Decision button has to be selected in order to select a solution and see the results. The dialog of FIG. 15 appears. When the button Show results of all solutions is pressed the dialog of FIG. 16 appears. By moving the slider to the DVH values are made visible, as these values are used in the decision making of the final treatment plan.

By selecting the column the DVH(1.500) urethra, the values in that column are sorted in descending order. See FIG. 18.

In FIG. 18 the best radiation dose coverage of the anatomical portion (PTV) is in this example 92.13%, while 10.785% of the urethra receives a dose value above 1.5 times the prescription dose. If the medic personnel want a dose exposure of the urethra below 1% (in FIG. 18 0.77%), then the best coverage for the anatomical portion (prostate) is 86.115%. By pressing the Histogram button the distributions e.g. are displayed (FIG. 19).

The deterministic algorithms use a mean on the dose normalization for the surface of the anatomical portion and it is therefore not as flexible as the evolutionary algorithms. But the examples still show the differences between the treatment planning solutions obtained with different importance factors/boundary conditions, which can be quite large. So one method would be to consider first the specific organs (OARs), then the dose coverage of the anatomical portion (PTV) and finally the dose in the surrounding tissue. Whatever the preferences of the planner are the algorithm according to the invention generates all possible solutions and the planner can select which treatment solution is the best solution.

In the event that it is decided that 1% of urethra may to receive more than the critical dose value, then the treatment solution no. 15 is selected in FIG. 20 (see also FIGS. 16 and 18). When the solution 15 in the list is selected the Accept single solution button is to be pressed and for seeing the isodose distributions the Iso-Dose of Selected Solution button is to be pressed in FIG. 20.

By selecting the 3D button in FIG. 21 the isodose values are marked, which are to be displayed (here the isodose for 1× the prescription and 2× the prescription). Subsequently two 3D isodose distributions will be displayed.

Post Implant Optimization

Post Implant Optimization assumes that the source dwell positions are given. This is in principle what Nucletrons PLATO systems calls inverse planning. After activating the Post Implant Optimization the treatment planning system loads the VOIS and catheters and the Autoactivation dialog of FIG. 22 appears.

After pressing the OK button the Source parameters dialog of FIG. 23 is displayed. After selecting the source parameters and pressing on OK the system directly continues with the optimization step of FIG. 13. Analogue to the pre-planning step the deterministic optimization algorithm can be selected. The steps of generating multiple treatment solutions are then the same as with the pre-planning step. 

1. A real time radiation treatment planning system for use in effecting radiation therapy of a pre-selected anatomical portion of an animal body, comprising: an imaging device configured to generate image data corresponding to the anatomical portion; a stepper configured to automatically position said imaging device; a template; at least one of a plurality of hollow needles configured for insertion, under guidance of the template, into said anatomical portion; a radiation delivery device configured to define a plurality of positions having a spatial relationship within a volume of said anatomical portion and to insert at least one energy emitting source through said at least one of the plurality of hollow needles at said plurality of positions into said anatomical portion; a processor configured to generate a radiation treatment plan for effecting said radiation therapy including generating information concerning: the number, position, direction and estimation of a placement of said at least one of a plurality of hollow needles within a shape and volume of said anatomical portion to be treated; the amount of radiation dose to be emitted; wherein said processor uses a three-dimensional imaging algorithm and a three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm for one or more specific organs within said anatomical portion and the plurality of said hollow needles for converting the image data obtained with said imaging device into a three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion to determine in real time a number and position of at least one of said hollow needles, a position of said at least one energy emitting source within the at least one of said hollow needles, and a dwell time of said at least one energy emitting source at the position; wherein said processor is configured to generate a set of multiple sampling points and to use a gradient-based algorithm to calculate a radiation dose distribution for each of said sampling points, wherein a number of operations for calculation of brachytherapy objective functions is independent of the number of sampling points in the anatomical portion of the animal body, and wherein, for post planning purposes, said processor is configured to determine, based on three-dimensional image information in real time, the real needle positions and the dwell times of said energy emitting source for each position and, wherein for generating each treatment plan said processor is configured to generate the set of multiple sampling points using said three-dimensional imaging algorithm and said three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm and to calculate the radiation dose distribution for each of said sampling points by using the gradient-based algorithm; and wherein the number of operations for the calculation of the objective functions is independent of the number of sampling points.
 2. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said processor generates said treatment plan with the aid of an anatomy based genetic optimization algorithm using one of specific animal body related data, system related data, and radiation related data.
 3. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 2, whereby said animal body related data is data relating to one of the shape and localization of said anatomical portion and the shape and localization of a specific organ proximate said anatomical portion.
 4. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 2, whereby said system related data is data relating to one of the template and its position in relation to said anatomical portion of said animal body, the dimensions of the needles used, the minimum displacement distance of said energy emitting source through said radiation delivery device.
 5. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 4, whereby the template includes a grid configuration having needle holes at an intermediate distance of approximately 3.5 mm along a diagonal direction.
 6. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 4, whereby the template includes a grid configuration having needle holes at an intermediate distance of approximately 2.5 mm along an orthogonal direction.
 7. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 4, whereby the template includes a motorized template where the needles are guided with a guiding tube, wherein the guiding tube is configured to be positioned as generated in said treatment plan.
 8. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 4, whereby said template includes a frame and a saddle-shaped body, wherein the saddle-shaped body is configured to be detachable from the frame.
 9. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 2, whereby said radiation related data is data relating to one of radiation dose to be emitted to said anatomical portion of said animal body and a maximum radiation exposure dose to a specific organ proximate said anatomical portion.
 10. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby the gradient-based algorithm for the radiation dose distribution calculation is based on the relations $\begin{matrix} {{\frac{\partial f_{S}}{\partial x_{k}} = {\frac{4x_{k}}{N_{S}m_{S}^{3}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{d_{i}^{S}\left( {{m_{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; k}^{S}} - {d_{i}^{S}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S}}} \right)}}}},} \\ {{\frac{\partial f_{V}}{\partial x_{k}} = {\frac{4x_{k}}{N_{V}m_{V}^{3}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{V}}{d_{i}^{V}\left( {{m_{V}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; k}^{V}} - {d_{i}^{V}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{V}}} \right)}}}},} \\ {{\frac{\partial f_{OAR}}{\partial x_{k}} = {\frac{4x_{k}}{{N_{OAR}\left( D_{c}^{OAR} \right)}^{2}m_{S}^{3}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{OAR}}{\Theta\;\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)\left( {{m_{S}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{ik}^{OAR}} - {d_{i}^{OAR}{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S}}} \right)}}}},} \\ {{d_{i}^{S} = {\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{S}}}},{m_{s} = {\frac{1}{N_{S}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{S}}d_{l}^{S}}}},{{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{S} = {\frac{1}{N_{S}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{S}}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{l\; k}^{S}}}},{k = 1},\;\ldots\mspace{14mu},N_{d}} \\ {{d_{i}^{V} = {\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{V}}}},{m_{V} = {\frac{1}{N_{V}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{V}}d_{l}^{V}}}},{{\overset{\sim}{m}}_{k}^{V} = {\frac{1}{N_{V}}{\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{V}}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; k}^{V}}}},{k = 1},\;\ldots\mspace{14mu},N_{d}} \\ {d_{i}^{OAR} = {\sum\limits_{l = 1}^{N_{d}}{x_{l}^{2}{\overset{\sim}{d}}_{i\; l}^{OAR}}}} \end{matrix}$ where f_(s) is the dose variance, where f_(v) is the dose distribution variance, where N_(OAR) is the number of sampling points in a specific organ, where D_(C) ^(OAR) is a corresponding critical dose as a fraction of one of the prescription dose and reference dose, where m_(s) and m_(v) are the average dose values on the surface of the anatomical portion to be treated and within the anatomical portion respectively, where N_(s), N_(v) are the corresponding numbers of sampling points, where d_(i) ^(s), d_(i) ^(v) and d_(i) ^(oar) is the dose rate at the i^(th) sampling point on the surface of the anatomical portion, within the anatomical portion and within a specific organ respectively, wherein {tilde over (d)}_(il) ^(S), {tilde over (d)}_(il) ^(V), {tilde over (d)}_(il) ^(OAR) are the dose kernel for the i^(th) sampling point and the l^(th) dwell position of the energy emitting source for the sampling points on the surface of the anatomical portion, within the anatomical portion, and within a specific organ respectively, and where N_(d) is the number of dwell positions.
 11. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 10, whereby the processor is configured to minimize the dose variance f_(s) for each sampling point and the occurrence of high dose values within the anatomical portion according to the algorithms ${f_{S} = {{\frac{1}{N_{S}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{S}}{\frac{\left( {d_{i}^{S} - m_{S}} \right)^{2}}{m_{S}^{2}}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu} f_{V}}}} = {\frac{1}{N_{V}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{V}}\frac{\left( {d_{i}^{V} - m_{V}} \right)^{2}}{m_{V}^{2}}}}}},$
 12. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 10, whereby the processor is configured to minimize the dose variance f_(OAR) for each specific organ according to the algorithm $f_{OAR} = {\frac{1}{N_{OAR}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N_{OAR}}{\frac{{\Theta\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)}\left( {d_{i}^{OAR} - {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}}} \right)^{2}}{\left( {D_{c}^{OAR}m_{S}} \right)^{2}}.}}}$
 13. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said sampling points represent one of the boundary of said anatomical portion to be treated, the boundary of said one or more specific organs, and the position of one or more of said plurality of hollow needles.
 14. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby the sampling points which are located inside the hollow needles are excluded for the radiation dose distribution calculation.
 15. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby the calculated radiation dose for said sampling points equals the amount of radiation dose to be emitted.
 16. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 11, whereby the sampling points used for the evaluation of the radiation dose distribution and the calculation of the algorithms f_(s), f_(v) and f_(OAR) are generated using a quasi-random number generator.
 17. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said processor is configured to display the position of each of the plurality of hollow needles as virtually determined in said treatment plan in said three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion on a screen and to guide the at least one of the plurality of hollow needles into said anatomical portion and to the virtually determined position.
 18. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 17, whereby said processor is configured to identify the virtual needles and to display their positions as navigation indicators in the image of the anatomical portion obtained during the insertion of the real needles, and to replace the virtual needles one by one with the real ones at the selected position.
 19. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said processor is configured to automatically start a genetic optimization algorithm after the execution of the three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm.
 20. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby the definition of each pre-selected anatomic position is determined by a plurality of parallel contours of said segmented three-dimensional image, whereas additional intermediate contours are interpolated if additional segments are present between adjacent contours.
 21. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby the definition of a pre-selected anatomic region within the three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion is determined by one of a straight and curved path, and by a closed curve perpendicular to this path.
 22. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 21, whereby the closed curve is defined as a geometric curve of fixed size.
 23. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 21, whereby a pre-selected anatomic region includes a specific organ within the anatomical portion, the specific organ being represented as a tube shaped organ and the closed curve as one of a circle and ellipsis.
 24. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 21, whereby said processor is configured to define one of said plurality of hollow needles by its geometrical dimensions.
 25. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said imaging device is configured to display an actual position of the plurality of hollow needles in the animal body during their insertion.
 26. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby during pre-planning each virtual needle is replaced step by step, after a scanning and three-dimensional reconstruction with the semi-automated segmented needles.
 27. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said processor is configured to start a new treatment plan using an initial needle configuration containing the positions of the real implanted and remaining virtual needles after one or more of the virtual needles has been replaced by corresponding one or more real needles in the anatomical portion.
 28. The radiation treatment planning system according to claim 1, whereby said processor is configured to generate more than one treatment plan simultaneously and use at least one deterministic algorithm for offering a spectrum of treatment solutions.
 29. A method for generating a radiation treatment plan for use in effecting radiation therapy of a selected anatomical portion of an animal body of a patient, comprising the steps of: imaging the anatomical portion to be treated to obtain imaging data; generating a treatment plan for effecting said radiation therapy, said treatment plan including virtual information concerning: the number and position of one or more of a plurality of hollow needles within an anatomical shape and volume of said anatomical portion to be treated; and the amount of radiation dose to be emitted; inserting under the guidance of one of a template and guidance tool at least one hollow needle to a position in said anatomical portion; delivering at least one energy emitting source through said at least one hollow needle into said anatomical portion using a radiation delivery device; converting the obtained image data into a three-dimensional image of the anatomical portion using a three-dimensional imaging algorithm and a three-dimensional image segmentation algorithm for specific organs within said anatomical portion, the needles, and the energy emitting source; determining in real time a number and position of at least one of said hollow needles, the position of said energy emitting source within each hollow needle, and dwell times of said energy emitting source at each position; calculating a radiation dose distribution for each sampling point in a set of sampling points, wherein a number of operations for calculation of brachytherapy objective functions is independent of the number of sampling points in the pre-selected anatomical portion of the animal body; determining, based on three-dimensional image information, the real needle positions and the dwell times of said energy emitting source for each position. 